The Information

Apple's deal with Google that makes it the default engine on Safari faces uncertainty as the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit looms, The Information reports. Apple's contract with Google, which ensures that Google's search engine is the default on Apple's Safari browser, has been a significant source of revenue. In 2022, the arrangement reportedly netted Apple over $20 billion, ...

Apple is working on technology to simplify iPhone battery replacement that could debut later this year, The Information reports. Alleged iPhone 16 Pro battery with new metal casing. The move comes in response to a new EU law requiring smartphone manufacturers to ensure batteries can be replaced by owners using easily accessible tools by 2025. According to sources involved in the ‌iPhone‌'s...

The Information today reported that shortly after COVID-19-related lockdowns and protests in China impacted iPhone assembler Foxconn in late 2022, Apple's senior vice president of operations Sabih Khan instructed managers to reduce the number of workers on iPhone assembly lines by as much as 50% over the following few years. To achieve this goal, Apple allegedly began approving high-cost...

Apple has suspended work on the second-generation Vision Pro headset to singularly focus on a cheaper model, The Information reports. Apple was widely believed to have plans to divide its Vision product line into two models, with one "Pro" model and one lower-cost standard model. The company is said to have been deprioritizing the next Vision Pro headset over the past year, gradually...

iOS 18 is widely expected to include new generative AI features for the iPhone, with a mix of on-device and cloud-based processing, and a new report has outlined Apple's alleged privacy measures for the cloud-based features. Apple's AI servers will supposedly be powered by a combination of M2 Ultra and M4 chips that it uses in Macs and iPads. According to The Information's Wayne Ma, Apple...

The Information today reported that Apple plans to release an all-new, high-end iPhone 17 model next year, and there was one detail that is worth singling out: the rear cameras could be relocated to the "top center" of the device. Google's Pixel 8 Pro The rear camera system on the iPhone has been positioned in the top-left corner of the device since the original 2007 model, so the cameras...

Apple is planning to launch an all-new iPhone 17 model next year with a "significantly thinner" design, according to The Information. The report says the device could have a higher price tag than the Pro Max model, which currently starts at $1,199, suggesting that the device would become the new highest-end model in the lineup. The device will allegedly feature a "major redesign" akin to the ...

Chinese tech giant Tencent has agreed to make some of its most important apps available on Apple's Vision Pro headset ahead of its launch in the country later this year, The Information reports. Tencent is one of the biggest multimedia companies in the world and its apps and services are ubiquitous in China. It owns Weibo, WeChat, QQ, WeBank, Tencent Pictures, and games such as Honor of...

Apple is actively building prototypes of at least two foldable iPhones following over five years of research and development, The Information reports. Citing individuals with "direct knowledge" of the project, the two iPhone prototypes reportedly fold widthwise like a clamshell. The devices are in early development and do not feature in the company's mass production plans for 2024 or 2025,...

Apple pays British chip architect Arm less than 30 cents per chip in royalties, The Information reports. Apple licenses the underlying technology used in the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and HomePod from Arm. Despite being one of its biggest and most important customers, Apple represents less than five percent of Arm's annual revenue, with the company paying the least of any of...

Apple has explored using its Vision Pro headset to diagnose and treat mental health problems, among other health monitoring capabilities, The Information's Wayne Ma reports. Citing sources with direct knowledge of the matter, Ma explains that Apple has experimented with using the Vision Pro to track a user's facial expressions to detect depression, anxiety, stress, post-traumatic stress...

Apple etches iPhone displays with small QR codes that let it precisely track the number of defective screens that are thrown out by suppliers, according to a new report from The Information. One barcode is the size of a grain of sand and can be viewed only with special equipment, while the other is on the inside of the display along the bezel. Apple spent millions of dollars developing the...

Apple is considering switching production of micro-OLED displays for future versions of the Vision Pro headset from Sony to Chinese manufacturers like BOE and SeeYa amid supply chain challenges, The Information reports. Sony, the current supplier of micro-OLED displays for Vision Pro, has apparently shown reservations about expanding its production capabilities for the components amid...

Chip supplier TSMC has taken the unusual step of not charging Apple for defective 3nm chips ahead of the introduction of the iPhone 15 Pro and the A17 Bionic chip, The Information reports. The ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ is widely rumored to feature the A17 Bionic chip – Apple's first chip manufactured with a ‌3nm‌ fabrication process. The ‌3nm‌ node allows transistors to be even more densely packed,...

Apple is running into difficulties with iPhone 15 Pro and ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max display manufacturing, which could lead to a limited number of devices being available at launch in September. Rumors have suggested that the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max will have slimmer bezels than the iPhone 14 Pro models, and it is this decrease in bezel size that is creating issues. According to ...

The Information's Wayne Ma today reiterated several features that Apple apparently developed but did not announce for the Vision Pro at WWDC earlier this month, including various fitness and wellness apps, full-body tracking, and more. Ma said some of the features could remain in development, while others may have been abandoned. Apple is not releasing the Vision Pro until early 2024, and...

Apple's mixed-reality headset will reportedly be the most complicated hardware product ever made by the company, sporting an unusual design that has proven to be an unprecedented challenging to manufacture, The Information reports. Apple headset concept by Marcus Kane The headset apparently features an "unconventional curved design, thinness, and ultralight weight." Several renders seen by The...

Microsoft is planning to launch a privacy-focused version of ChatGPT amid Apple's apparent lack of grip on emerging AI technologies, The Information reports. Microsoft's Azure cloud server unit plans to offer a version of ChatGPT that runs on dedicated cloud servers where the data is kept separate from that of other customers later this quarter. Data on this isolated server will not...

Siri and Apple's use of AI has been severely held back by caution and organizational dysfunction, according to over three dozen former Apple employees who spoke to The Information's Wayne Ma. The extensive paywalled report explains why former Apple employees who worked in the company's AI and machine learning groups believe that a lack of ambition and organizational dysfunction have hindered ‌...

Apple has heavily invested in developing its own MicroLED technology for almost a decade to break away from Samsung as a supplier, The Information reports. The iPhone X's flexible OLED display supplied by Samsung Apple's MicroLED displays have reportedly taken much longer to develop than expected, forcing it to deepen its ties with Samsung until the technology is ready. MicroLED offers better ...